1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a side mounted retrofit wiper assembly and, more particularly, pertains to providing a retrofit wiper assembly kit for attaching to the housing of a vehicle's side rear-view mirror.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of a rear side mirror wiper apparatus is known in the prior art. More specifically, rear side mirror wiper apparatus heretofore devised and utilized for the purpose of cleaning the rearview side mirror of a vehicle, specifically a truck, are known to consist basically of a side rear-view mirror built with a wiper unit and mounted to the door of the vehicle, with the wiper unit having a motor interior the housing to control the operation of the wiper across the mirror face.
By way of example, the prior art includes:
U.S. Pat No. 3,526,920 is an outside mounted rectangular rearview mirror having a vertical wiping blade with horizontal slots above and below the mirror portion. A drive and transmission means is disposed in a casing behind the mirror. The drive and transmission have wiper support members extending through the slots and in engagement with the upper and lower ends of the wiper to reciprocate the latter horizontally across the mirror. The motor, that operates the drive and transmission means, is mounted on the exterior of the front wall of the rear-view mirror.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,968,537 is a motorized wiping device for cleaning rear and side view mirrors of trucks, buses, trailers, and other heavy vehicles, in which the mirror is mounted externally on the vehicle. The invention is intended to wipe the mirrors off as needed. A drive housing is mounted to the top of the side view mirror. A motor, a slidable base member, and a guide plate are positioned within the housing. The wiper blade movable over the mirror, with a reciprocating coupling linkage from the motor to the wiper blade by movement of a wiper stem. The wiper stem is engaged by the slidable base member to move the wiper blade leftwards and rightwards along the mirror.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,339,169 is a rear view mirror and wiper assembly, which is mounted externally of the vehicle. The assembly includes a power operated wiper blade, and a continuously operating motor actuating a rotating crank arm, which is in rolling engagement with a mechanism fixedly engaged with the wiper blade in wiping engagement with the mirror surface. The mechanism includes a wiper-actuating arm, which translates the rotary motion of the crank arm to reciprocating linear motion of the wiper blade.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,466,712 is an external rear view mirror with drive mechanism interposed between the body shell for supporting a mirror and the member for attaching the body shell to the body of a motor vehicle, which allows a to-and-fro traversing movement of the body shell about a vertical axis. A wiper mechanism is provided for wiping the reflecting surface of the mirror. A single reversible electric motor is supported in the body shell for selective coupling to the drive mechanism or the wiper mechanism by respective clutches.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,672,708 is a wiper assembly for a mirror including a frame and a wiper arm mechanism. The wiper assembly has a manually operated remote control that is provided for actuating the wiper arm mechanism from the rest position to the stop position. The manually operated remote control is in the form of a Bowden wire.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,157,551 is a mirror wiper apparatus with a drive mechanism mounted within a sleeve, which is mounted vertically along one vertical edge of the frame. The sleeve is mounted vertically along one vertical edge of the frame. The sleeve has a slot, and a screw is mounted within the sleeve with a pair of spiral grooves of opposite pitch connected together at their upper and lower edges to form an oscillating path. A ring is slidably mounted on the screw with a pin. A motor drives the screw to cause the ring to oscillate vertically in the sleeve, and a wiper has an arm connected to the ring through the slot in the sleeve, so that the oscillation of the ring on the screw causes the wiper to oscillate upward and downward on the mirror.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,715 teaches a wiper assembly with a motor placed within the mirror housing. The wiper blade, according to the present invention, consists of a blade lever and a wiping string held as extended tight on one side of the blade lever. The width of the wiper blade is that of the blade lever. The mirror holder has formed thereon a wiper blade guide consisting of an ascending slope to lift away from the mirror surface the wiper blade having been moved to neat its reverse position and a vertical wall to land the wiper blade, having been thus lifted and reversed, from the lifted position above the mirror surface onto the mirror surface to a predetermined position where the wiper blade starts being moved back. Thus, the wiper blade can jump over the rainwater it has gathered by its forward movement and wipes it again along with new raindrops by its reverse movement.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,634,234 is a wiper assembly with a motor placed either above or below the mirror. The wiper accessory has a wiper blade, a drive module having a rotary drive and a flexible wiper arm for moving the wiper blade in a reciprocal movement across the reflective surface of the rear view mirror, and an auxiliary mirror mounted on the drive module for advantageously use of the sightless area adjacent the side mounted rear view mirror. The drive module further has a U-shaped bracket and two spaced apart vertical members having each a retaining pivot horizontally in line with one another for retaining the drive module of the wiper accessory in a rotatively adjustable manner about an axis defined by the two retaining pivots.
The prior art side rear-view mirror and wiper assemblies, as set out above, come as singular units housed in one assembly. These units are designed to replace the existing side rear-view mirror. As such, the truck driver wishing to have use of a side rear-view mirror with a wiper assembly is required to replace the entire side rear-view mirror. In many instances, the truck driver goes without a wiper assembly because the older the truck, the more difficult it is to find a side rear-view mirror with a wiper assembly that easily attaches to the truck doors. Therefore, a disadvantage of the prior art side rear-view mirror and wiper assemblies has been the difficulty in finding one that fits a variety of truck styles and the expense and difficulty of installing the side mirror replacements.
There are instances where the prior art teaches side rear-view mirrors with wiper drive modules that are attached to the top of the frame of the mirror housing. This mounting method creates a sightless area above each side mirror.
The side rear-view mirror retrofit wiper assembly, according to the present invention, substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing, provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of providing a retrofit wiper assembly kit for attaching to the housing of a vehicle's side mirrors. The side rear-view retrofit wiper assembly of the present invention is structured to retrofit onto the rear of the mirror frame and eliminate the inconvenience caused by top mounting the wiper drive modules.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for a side rear-view retrofit wiper kit with an assembly, which can be used to attach to the housing of a vehicle's existing side mirrors. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.